Summary Proceedings of the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the first ever World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing. This conference is the result of discussions that began about a year ago between the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), the American Chemical Society, and the National Agriculture Biotechnology Council. We think it important to bring together leaders from diverse industries to highlight industrial biotechnology applications in manufacturing, agriculture processing, energy and chemical production and to provide a forum for information sharing and business development activities.

Industrial biotechnology is the “third wave” in biotechnology and, with advances in this field accelerating, the need for education and collaboration is obvious. This new conference is designed to be a significant step towards stimulating dialogue, collaboration and fostering the diffusion of industrial biotechnology throughout the manufacturing sector on an international scale. We hope to make it an annual event.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with BIO, we provide advocacy, communications and business development services to more than 1,000 biotechnology companies and some chemical companies, academic centers, and state and international biotechnology associations. Our six-year-old Industrial & Environmental Section represents over 50 innovative companies and organizations that bring biotechnology techniques to large-scale manufacturing, chemical synthesis and bioremediation. You will meet executives from many of those firms over the next three days during breakout sessions and workshops. They will articulate why industrial biotechnology is providing new tools to create economic value while at the same time enhancing environmental protection and sustainable development.

I am confident we will emerge from this event better informed and energized to harness biotechnology’s diverse tools for mutual economic and environmental benefit.

I look forward to meeting you and to forging new and productive relationships.